Exhibiting and resetting means for fuel dispensing pumps



May 30, 1961 E. T. YOUNG 2,986,332 EXHIBITING AND RESETTING MEANS FOR FUEL DISPENSING PUMPS Filed April 24, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fl G. l.

INVENTOR.

EINAR T. YOUNG BY ATTORNEYS May 30, 1961 EXHIBITING AND Filed April 24, 1956 E. T. YOUNG RESETTING MEANS FOR FUEL DISPENSING PUMPS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 r, II?" .I 1 11 is h I 7'- 34 willlcg- F l G. 2.

F l G. 3.

INVENTOR.

EINAR T. YOUNG BY ATTORNEYS May 30, 1961 E. T. YOUNG 2,986,332

EXHIBITING AND RESETTING MEANS FOR FUEL DISPENSING PUMPS Filed April 24, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. El NAR T. YOUNG ATTORNEY y 30, 1961 E. T. YOUNG 2,986,332

EXHIBITING AND RESETTING MEANS FOR FUEL DISPENSING PUMPS Filed April 24, 1956 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 5.

uo "2 88144 I22 N I38 iy 142 Em I40 1 F I G. 6. INVENTOR.

EINAR T. YOUNG BY ATTO United States Patent 9 EXHIBITING AND RESETTIN G MEANS FOR FUEL DISPENSING PUMPS Elnar T. Young, Newtown Square, Pa., assignor to Sun Oil Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 24, 1956, Ser. No. 580,289

3 Claims. (Cl. 235144) This invention relates to gasoline pumps of the type provided for the dispensing of gasoline at service stations and for the exhibiting of the gallons of gasoline dispensed and the sales price thereof.

When an automobile is driven into a service station for gasoline it is placed so that the gasoline tank is opposite the pump for ease in filling. This generally places the driver in a position so that he cannot see the indicating face of the pump adjacent to his car without getting out of his seat. It has been proposed that the pumps be mounted crosswise on the pump island, in contrast with the usual practice, so that the customer could more readily see the indicating face, but under such conditions the attendant filing the tank could not conveniently see the face. It is, of course, customary to have indicating faces on opposite sides of the pump so that visibility is afforded at least to a limited degree irrespective of which side of the pump is adjacent to the car being serviced.

The present two-faced pump involves two sets of quantity drums and two sets of price drums on four shafts con nected by gearing.

In accordance with the present invention a pump is provided which exhibits both the gallons of gasoline delivered and the price on four faces of the pump. in accordance with the invention a considerable simplification of mechanism is provided despite this increase in available indication.

The objects of the invention relate to the attainment of the results just indicated and will become apparent from the following description, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the upper portion of a gasoline pump provided in accordance with the invention, the elevation being typical of the appearance of all four sides of the generally rectangular head of the pump;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view showing in particular the driving means for a series of drums carrying the quantity and price digits;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section showing certain clutching means involved in the driving and resetting operations;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section showing a plurality of fragmentary sections to illustrate certain of the controlling means;

Figure 4A is a fragmentary section illustrating details of construction and operation of the gear arrangement illustrated at the lower right portion of Figure 4;

Figure 5 is an inverted plan view showing, in particular, the mechanism involved in resetting;

' Figure 6 is an inverted vertical section taken on the broken surface indicated at 6-6 in Figure 5; and Figure 7 is an inverted elevation looking at the right of them'echanism shown in Figure 5.

' The present invention is concerned only with the indicating means and the resetting mechanism therefor, and accordingly there are not shown the details of the mechanism in the body of the pump, which mechanism is conventional, involving a pump, meter, variator, and connections for delivery of the gasoline ultimately to the dispensing hose and nozzle. In common with conventional pumps two output shafts are provided, one of them rotating in proportion to the gallons of gasoline delivered and the other in proportion to the accumulated price, the variator having set into it in conventional fashion the ratio involved in accordance with the price per gallon. In addition, the conventional switching means is involved for the starting and stopping of the pump.

Referring first to Figure l, the top 2 of the pump is provided on each of its four sides with display panels 4 and 6 for the gallons delivered and the total sale. The former of these panels is provided with openings 8, 10 and 12 for exhibiting, respectively, tenths of gallons, unit gallons and tens of gallons. The panel 6 is provided with openings 14, 16 and 18 for exhibiting cents, tens of cents, and dollars, respectively. The numerals exhibited through these openings are carried by drums 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 shown in Figure 2, the lower three of these giving gallon indications and the upper three total sale indications, the numerals exhibited being, as will be evident from Figure 1, arranged in diagonal sequences consistent with the vertical superposition of the drums. The numerals are repeated four-fold about the drums and respectively located so that in the zero positions of the drums zeros will be indicated in all of the openings. A full range of unmerals on each drum will pass a given position in each quarter revolution of the drum.

' The input for driving the quantity drums is provided through a shaft 32 coupled to the gallons output shaft of the meter mechanism, suitable reduction gearing being provided in the usual fashion. A pinion 34 carried by the shaft 32 meshes with a gear disc 36 through which drive is imparted to the drum 20 in a fashion which will be hereinafter described in greater detail in connection with Fig ure 3. For present consideration it may be assumed that the gear 36 is clutched to the drum 20 which is carried by the mounting plate 38. This plate 38 is provided with an upstanding flange 62 in an interruption in which, and above which, there extend at intervals sets of double teeth 40 (Figure 4). Between these teeth a single tooth socket is provided in each of the four instances. A fixed vertical shaft 44 mounts a series of pinions of which the pinion 42, freely rotatable on this shaft, is provided with eight teeth with alternate teeth of full vertical extent to ride upon the flange 62 and engage the socket between the pairs of teeth 40 and with the intermediate teeth removed at their lower portions so that they will not be engageable with the flange 62 but will be engageable with the teeth 40 which project above the flange. The full complement of eight teeth mesh with the teeth 46 of a gear disc 48, which in turn is coupled as will be described, with a disc 49 mounting the drum 22 and also provided at 90 intervals with pairs of teeth 50 corresponding to the pair of teeth 40. A pinion 52 having the same construction as the pinion 42 is arranged to mesh with the teeth 50 and with the teeth of a gear 54 which is coupled as will be described to the plate 55 which mounts the drum 24. The plate 55 is also provided with four sets of teeth 56 corresponding to the teeth 40 and 50 but in this instance they do not project above the flange 62 and there is no pinion corresponding to 42 and 52 to transfer motion to the parts associated with the next disc 26. Referring to the lower left hand portion of Figure 4 it will be noted that there are provided detents 58, each of which under the action of a spring 60 engage the flange 62 of each of the various drum discs and is also arranged to engage within the tooth openings between pairs of teeth 40, 50 and 56. Assuming that the drums are clutched to their respective driving gears, it will be evident that the arrangement is such that, due to the 90 spacings of the group of teeth 40 and 50 the drum 22 will be advanced through one digit spacing upon each quarter revolution of drum 2t) and the drum 24 will be advanced one digit spacing upon each quarter revolution of the drum 22. Thus the usual decimal carry-over is provided. Furthermore, the detent 58 associated with each drum will, by engaging between the pairs of teeth 40, 50 and 56 retain, upon resetting, the various drums in zero indicating positions, there being, of course, four of such positions for each of the drums in view of the fourfold repetition of the digits thereon. The rotation during indicating advance of the drum is clockwise as viewed in Figure 4 from above but counterclockwise as viewed in Figure 5 from below.

The arrangement for driving the drums 26, 28 and 30 and for arresting them in zero positions are identical with those described for the drums 20, 22 and 24, motion in this case originating through shaft 66 and pinion 68 secured to that shaft, the pinion driving the gear disc 70. The transfer and arresting arrangements are the same, the pinions 69 and 71 providing transfer and pawls 58 providing for arrest in zero position. The shaft 66 is, of course, driven from the variator previously mentioned.

The various drum assemblies are mounted to rotate about a shaft 74 which is both rotatable and axially movable in the mounting frame, being urged downwardly by a spring 76 acting upon a ball 78 to minimize friction. Referring particularly to Figure 3, the disc 48 is shown therein as typical of the various driving gear discs 36, 48, 54 and 70 and the driving gear discs for the drums 28 and 30 which are not specifically designated. Each of these discs is provided with an annular rib portion which is formed with internally facing sloping teeth 80. The driving discs such as 48 are journalled on hub elements 82 secured to the discs corresponding to 49. Associated with each drum assembly there is a lever 84 pivoted at 86 to the hub arrangement 82 and urged downwardly by a spring 88 for engagement between teeth 80. The teeth 80 are closely spaced so that whenever the lever 84 is free to move downwardly engagement is effected to drive the discs 48 and 49 together with negligible initial relative movement. A tail portion of the lever 84 is arranged for engagement by a cam groove 90 formed in the shaft 74. Connected to the shaft 74 by pin and slot connections at 91 are discs 92 which are provided with springs 94 for the frictional clamping at their peripheries of rings 96 which in turn mount for rotary movement the hub portions of the discs 49. The ring 96 is provided with openings 98 for the reception of pins 100 which are urged upwardly by individual springs 102 reacting against levers 104 which are pivoted at 106 to the hub structure 82. Springs 108 urge the levers 104 downwardly. The levers 104 are provided with fingers overlying flanges at the lower ends of the pins 100 so that when the levers 104 are free to drop under the action of springs 108 the pins are withdrawn from the openings 98 despite the upward urge of the springs 102. The levers 104 are also provided with tail portions engageable by the cam grooves 90. The hub assemblies of the drums are stacked and held by the frame in fixed vertical positions.

The operation of what is shown in Figure 3 may be briefly described as follows:

When the shaft 74 is in its upper position, the gear plate 48 and the other corresponding plates are coupled to their drums by engagement of the levers 84 with the teeth 80 and consequently drive occurs from the shafts 32 and 66 and the transfer pinions. At this time the pins 100 are withdrawn from the openings 98.

When, however, the shaft 74 occupies a lower position, the coupling between the levers 84 and teeth 80 is interrupted, and the pins 100 are freed so that under the action of the springs 102 they are moved upwardly into position to engage the holes 98, rising against the lower surface of the plate 98 until relative movement occurs permitting them to enter the holes. As will further become clear hereafter, this results in a resetting of the drums during a reverse rotation of the shaft 74 through the fric- Reference may now be made particularly to Figures 5, V

6 and 7 which show the resetting mechanism. For clarity of showing Figures 5, 6 and 7 are shown in inverted position and reference to angular movements will be made generally, unless otherwise noted, with respect to these figures, the resetting involving in these figures, clockwise rotation of the shaft 74 and the drums, the drums rotating counterclockwise during their delivery registering movements. As viewed in Figure 4, of course, the registering movements of the drums involve clockwise rotation, with counterclockwise resetting.

A shaft 110 mounted in the frame has secured thereto an arm 112 to which there is secured by pins 114 a manually operable lever (not shown) accessible at the outside of the pump casing and arranged to be moved clockwise to start the conventional pump motor by operation of a conventional switch and to be moved counterclockwise to stop the motor by the opening of the switch. As will appear from the operation described later, a full stroke of the arm 112 is required in the clockwise direction in order to start the motor and a full stroke is required in the opposite direction to effect stopping of the motor.

Pivoted to the arm 112 at 116 is a pawl which is urged in a clockwise direction by a spring 118 and is arranged to engage a shoulder 120 formed in the edge of a disc 122 which is journalled on the shaft 110 for rotation relative thereto. The disc 122 is urged counterclockwise by a strong spring 124 anchored to the frame. The disc 122 is also connected to a dashpot 126 to slow down its movements under the action of spring 124 to prevent shock and insure smooth and positive operation.

Pivoted to the disc 122 at 128 is a pawl 130 which is urged counterclockwise by a spring 132 into engagement with the periphery of a disc 136 which is also journalled for free rotation on the pin 110. The periphery of the disc 136 is provided with shoulders 134 engageable by the pawl 130. The disc 136 carries a series of cams 138, one corresponding to each shoulder 134, which cams are arranged to ride under the shaft 74 to raise the same or to release this shaft for downward movement under the action of spring 76. Secured to the disc 136 through a common hub is a gear 1.40 which meshes with a pinion 142 secured to theshaft 7'4 and serving to drive this shaft. The face of the gear 140 has sufficient axial extent so that meshing with the pinion 142 is maintained despite axial movements of the shaft 74. A detent 144 pivoted at 146 on the frame is urged clockwise by a spring 148 and is arranged to engage shoulders 152 on the disc 136, there being one of these shoulders 152 for each of the shoulders 134 and cams 138. The detent 144 is provided with a pin 150 engageable by the cam edge portion 151 of the arm 112. A pin 117 is provided in position to engage the tail portion of the pawl 115. A pin 154 serves to limit the clockwise movement of the arm 112 and a pin 156 serves to limit the counterclockwise movement of the pawl 130.

The overall operation of the mechanism is as follows:

The normal rest positions of the parts are as indicated in the figures. As a result of a previous delivery operation the drums may be in arbitrary positions exhibiting various values in the panels 4 and 6.

In order to initiate operation, the lever secured to the arm 112 is moved clockwise, as viewed in Figure 5, and in this movement the pawl 115 engages shoulder 120 moving the disc 122 clockwise against the tension of spring 124. During the initial part of this movement the detent 144 is in aposition to prevent any substantial counterclockwise movement of the disc 136, which is so positioned that one of the cams 138 is beneath the shaft 74 holding this shaft in raised position. As the movement of arm 112 and disc 122 continues, the cam edge 1'51 lifts the detent 144 out of position to arrest the shoulder 152, but this does not occur until the pawl 130 has moved sufficiently to drop beyond the next shoulder 134 of the disc 136. As movement further proceeds, the pin 117 engages the tail of pawl 115 rocking this pawl to disengage shoulder 120, the disengagement taking place just prior to the starting of the pump motor. With the starting of the pump motorby the closure of its switch the arm 112 is engaged with, or substantially in engagement with, the pin 154 and remains in that position during the delivery operation.

As soon as the shoulder 120 is released by the pawl 115 the spring 124 is free to return the disc 122 to its initial position, the movement being slowed down to some extent by the action of the dashpot 126. In this return movement the pawl 130 engages the shoulder 134 behind which it has dropped, thereby imparting counterclockwise rotation to the disc 136 until the pawl 130 again engages the pin 156. The movement of the disc 136 is, in the mechanism shown, through one-sixth of a revolution. Through the gear 140 and the pinion 142 clockwise rotation is imparted to the shaft 74. As soon as the disc 136 starts to move shaft 74 is released by cam 138, to be reengaged by the next cam 138 only with completion of movement of the disc 136. Accordingly the shaft 74 moves downwardly under the action of spring 76 during its rotation, being lifted upwardly only at the end thereof.

The effect of downward movement of the shaft 74 is to uncouple the drums from their driving gears and to release the pins 100 for engagement with the ring 96 or the openings 98 therein. The rotation of theshaft 74 is substantially in excess of a fourth revolution thereof. Due to the drive from the shaft 74 through the spring 94, rings 96 and pins 100, the drums are rotated in their reverse directions, counterclockwise as viewed in Figure 4, until the opening between a pair of teeth 40 of each of them is arrested by the corresponding detent 58. When this occurs for each drum, a zero indication thereon is aligned with its corresponding window. Following the arrest of a drum the shaft 74 continues to rotate, but due to the frictional drive connection afforded by the spring 94 this overrun is permitted following the bringing of each drum to rest in its zero position.

When the disc 136 reaches its final position the shaft 74 is raised producing coupling between each drum and its driving gear corresponding to 48 as described above. Accordingly, the mechanism is then in position to record delivery and price as above described. During such delivery the drums rotate, with carrying between drums to give the gallons and total sales price corresponding to the delivery. As will be evident from what has already been described, the indications are concurrently given at all four faces of the pump. Following the dispensing of the gasoline the pump motor may be shut off by movement of the arm 112 counterclockwise. The arrangement is such that the motor is stopped only when the arm 112 is restored to its initial position in which the pawl 115 drops beyond the shoulder 120 in the position illustrated in Figure 5 to initiate a new cycle of operation.

It will be evident from the foregoing that there is provided a simple mechanical arrangement which not only provides for indication of quantity and price of the dispensing operation on four faces of the pump but also accomplishes this result with simple mechanism having a minimum of parts involving a minimum amount of frictional load on the gasoline meter. Heretofore, even in the case of exhibition of delivery on only two faces considerable duplications of mechanism with rather elaborate gearing was required.

It will also be evident from what has been discussed above that the usual legal requirements arg satisfied involving the requirement that the indicating means be zeroized prior to the initiation of a subsequent delivery operation.

What is claimed is:

l. Indicating means for a fuel dispensing pump comprising a housing, a series of coaxially arranged drums, means for effecting carrying movements between successive drums, means for driving said drums in a forward direction, a resetting shaft extending axially through the series of drums, means controlled by axial movements of said shaft to effect, alternatively, coupling of said drums to their driving means, ,or coupling to said shaft, and means effecting axial movements of said shaft and rotation of said shaft to drive the drums in reverse direction for resetting of the drums, the last-mentioned means comprising a single element required to be given a complete forward and back reciprocation to effect operation of the fuel dispensing pump, during which reciprocation it effects said axial movements and rotation of said shaft for resetting of the drums.

2. Indicating means for a fuel dispensing pump comprising a housing, a series of drums, means mounting said drums for rotation about an upright axis, each of said drums carrying a plurality of sets of numerals and said housing being provided with an equal plurality of windows for each drum, said windows being arranged in diagonal sets; means for effecting carrying movements between successive drums, means for driving said drums in a forward direction, a resetting shaft extending axially through the series of drums, means controlled by axial movements of said shaft to effect, alternatively, coupling of said drums to their driving means, or coupling to said shaft, and means effecting axial movements of said shaft and rotation of said shaft to drive the drums in reverse direction for resetting of the drums, the last-mentioned means comprising a single element required to be given a complete forward and back reciprocation to effect operation of the fuel dispensing pump, during which reciprocation it effects said axial movements and rotation of said shaft for resetting of the drums.

3. Indicating means for a fuel dispensing pump comprising a housing, two series of drums, one for quantity indications and one for price indications, means mounting said drums for rotation about an upright axis, each of said drums carrying a plurality of sets of numerals and said housing being provided with an equal plurality of windows for each drum, said windows being arranged in diagonal sets; means for effecting carrying movements between successive drums of each series, means for driving said drums in a forward direction, a resetting shaft extending axially through the series of drums, means controlled by axial movements of said shaft to effect, alternatively, coupling of said drums to their driving means, or coupling to said shaft, and means effecting axial movements of said shaft and rotation of said shaft to drive the drums in reverse direction for resetting of the drums, the last-mentioned means comprising a single element required to be given a complete forward and back reciprocation to effect operation of the fuel dispensing pump, during which reciprocation it effects said axial movements and rotation of said shaft for resetting of the drums.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 526,400 Landin et al. Sept. 25, 1894 555,218 Matsson Feb. 25, 1896 578,906 Wood Mar. 16, 1897 1,400,197 Wood Dec. 13, 1921 2,125,322 Svenson Aug. 2, 1938 2,568,709 Bliss Sept. 25, 1951 2,814,444 Bliss Nov. 26, 1957 

